Charming little movie with a breathtaking performance by Ally Walker. In her career, she embodied many different characters: she was wonderful as Sam Waters in PROFILER and she was funny as Josephine in HAPPY, TEXAS. She even made KAZAAM look like a good movie for me ! Furthermore Ally Walker was perfect as Veronica in UNIVERSAL SOLDIER and will always be Andrea Bedford from SANTA BARBARA for me.
The part of Susan Stone in IF YOU BELIEVE was a challenge and a gift for Ally Walker. She demonstrates both being able to achieve success by playing a character she is not associated with (like Sam Waters from Profiler or Audrey Macleah from WHEN THE BOUGH BREAKS) AND being able to carry a movie completely with her enormous charisma. She is wonderful ! Look the movie for her performance !
The story is well-known. Stone-hearted and frustrated Susan, how is a reader, gets the chance to think about her ruined life. In her case it's herself appearing as a 7-year old girl and trying to show that life is worth living. Of course Susan changes into a nice person at the end. That's fun to watch. Perhaps there are little too many scenes for the fact that Susan can't believe that the little girl is actually talking to her. Sole complaint !
Most of the time the girl, Hayden Panettiere, is good, but in some scenes she is just a little bit TOO overstated. That are the moments when you ask yourself WHY kids play in movies.
Anyway, 7 out of 10.